By Muvija M and Sam Tabahriti
LONDON, Jan 20 (Reuters) – Britain is considering an Australian-style ban on social media to better protect children online, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer warning on Tuesday they risk being pulled into “a world of endless scrolling, anxiety and comparison”.
Starmer said the government was prepared to take robust action, a day after it said it would examine whether features such as infinite scrolling and the age at which children can access platforms should be restricted.
The Labour government said it would examine evidence from around the world on suggested proposals including looking at whether a social media ban for children would be effective and how best to make such a ban work if it were imposed.
“This is a hugely complex issue – so it’s important it’s properly considered,” Starmer said on Substack.
Ministers will visit Australia, which last month became the first country to ban social media for children under 16, to learn from their approach, it said on Monday.
The government did not specify an age threshold, saying it was exploring a ban “for children under a certain age” and other measures such as better age checks and looking into whether the current digital age of consent was too low.
The proposals come as governments and regulators worldwide contend with the risks of exposing children to social media, as well as the impact of screen time on their development and mental health.
The recent rapid explosion of AI-generated content online has exacerbated those concerns, highlighted this month by a public outcry over reports of Elon Musk’s Grok AI chatbot generating non-consensual sexual images, including of minors.
STARMER SAYS THERE IS MORE TO DO
The British government has already set out plans for an outright ban on artificial intelligence nudification tools, while working to stop children being able to take, share or view nude images on their devices, it said in Monday’s statement.
The government said it was also considering removing or limiting functionalities that could drive addictive or compulsive use of social media.
Britain’s recently enforced Online Safety Act, one of the strictest safety regimes, has increased the share of children encountering age checks online to 47% from 30%, while cutting visits to pornography sites by a third, according to the government.
“These laws were never meant to be the end point, and we know parents still have serious concerns,” Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said.
Starmer said childhood should not mean judgement from strangers or pressure to perform for likes, adding that “for too many today, it means being pulled into a world of endless scrolling, anxiety and comparison”.
“We will work with experts to identify the most effective measures we can take to do more,” he said, reiterating that “no option is off the table”.
The government said it would produce evidence-based screen time guidance for parents of children aged 5 to 16, with separate guidance for under-fives to be published in April.
(Reporting by Muvija M and Sam Tabahriti; Editing by David Gregorio, Bill Berkrot and Timothy Heritage)
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